August 19, 2009

Is Trayce Thompson — the 3rd pick by the Chicago White Sox this year — the next Mike Stanton? Probably not. But I admit Mike Stanton was the first player to cross my mind when I watched Thompson. I mean, you can see enormous power potential from Thompson with each swing. He has an ideal frame with room to add more weight and muscle mass without losing much of his present speed. His bat speed is tremendous. The swing itself looks similar to Stanton’s, particularly how the back leg rotates forward. And when Thompson gets a hold of one, the ball goes a long, long way. …

“El Duque called me and said, ‘If you want to win, wear your pants up,'” said Contreras, through interpreter Ozzie Guillen Jr., after first laughing when he heard the question about the pants comparison to El Duque’s style. “I’m not going to change that until something else happens.”

•Dan Hudson, RHP, Chicago White Sox: Hudson could pull the rare feat and pitch on every level from low-A to the majors in one season if he gets promoted within the next month. Relatively unheralded coming into the season, Hudson, 22, had a 2.28 ERA, 10 K/9 and 1.9 BB/9 in 23 starts. He has a large, durable frame that gives him the stamina to pitch deep into games. His improving repertoire consists of an 87- to 92-mph fastball that touches 94, slider, curveball and changeup. He pitches off of his fastball, and his slider acts as his strikeout pitch. Hudson could stand to upgrade his changeup in order to combat left-handed hitters, but his command and control should take him far.

The choices were Southern Illinois or the South Side for Grant Monroe. The former Schaumburg High School star pitcher had to weigh a college scholarship with the Salukis against a professional contract offer by the White Sox. They selected Monroe in the 46th round of the Major League Baseball amateur draft in June. The deadline was Monday night and Monroe went with staying in college and heading to Southern Illinois. …

“We have at least two more [rehab starts] scheduled, Aug. 23 and 28. Much of the stuff we are going to be doing is listening to him. Right now, he seems like he’s par for the course. He’s feeling good and trying to turn up the intensity. He doesn’t feel the command and the intensity are meeting. That’s kind of to be expected. That’s what you are trying to get accomplished, to get the intensity and the stuff up. We’ve had two trips at it. I don’t care who you are or how good you are at anything you do. You take the amount of time he took off, it’s going to take a little while to get it back. I’m not sitting here biting my nails and waiting for him because we are going to do this right. Whether he comes back on the 30th or the 3rd or the 8th, I sit here right now and I’m going to let that unfold.’’

I guess the best we can hope for now is September 2 at the Sox last game in the Metrodome.